Yup, here’s David Kinch (who just won Best Chef: Pacific) with Pim, and now James makes three.
I have to hand it to him, I think he gave my favorite speech so far tonight. Not only did he thank his staff and lovingly thank his parents, but he also thanked Ella. As in Ella his cat. Meow.

Just had a chance to powwow with the gracious and talented Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park (who won Best Chef New York). He took a moment to reminisce about living and working in San Francisco: “It has a special place in my heart. It was my first place in America, it was the place where I met my wife, it’s the place where I got four stars from the San Francisco Chronicle. I also loved to live there, I loved the ingredients...But there is something special about New York. When you come to New York, you feel that energy. Anybody who lives in New York is here to achieve something special. I wanted to be a part of that, to contribute to that energy. I am very happy to have a busy restaurant here. Like Frank Sinatra said..." [We both chuckled here]. "There is a lot of truth to what he said. If you can make it there...you’re on top of the world.”

Probably one of my favorite people to chew the fat with, Michael Ruhlman. Sadly he missed receiving his Beard award yesterday for Ad Hoc at Home—he didn’t know the book awards were moved to Sunday. Rats. So there he was, having dinner with pastry chef and blogger Shuna Fish Lydon when he suddenly got the call from Thomas (as in Keller), asking where he was. Yeah, Ruhlman was bummed. But at least dinner was good.

Go California: Timothy Hollingsworth just won Rising Star Chef and even though he’s currently sipping some champers, I asked what he’d really like to be sipping on. That’s right: a vodka tonic. Someone get the guy a drink.

The ever-charming John Besh is here, and cooked for the Beard Media Awards last night. He brought over 250 pounds of fish, and another 150 of crab for his dish. But here's the sobering thought (and what pained him to bring it): the dish he prepared (Redfish Courtbouillon with Brown Shrimp and Blue Crab Pearls) featured possibly the last bite of Gulf seafood for a while...

In the name of research, I tried the vitello tonnato panino. The server insisted if I took a picture of it, I better eat it. Good point. Definitely worth messing up the lipstick over. A woman in the VIP room agreed.